STARKVILLE, Miss. – As quarterback Stetson Bennett conducted his postgame interview following Saturday night’s 45-19 win over Mississippi State, he turned to a reporter and cracked a wry smile.

“You guys are holding me up from (the celebration),” Bennett said when asked about the victory that sewed up Georgia’s fifth SEC East title in the last six years.

Yes folks, Bennett was joking. While the victory did assure the Bulldogs of another trip to the SEC Championship game, you wouldn’t have known it.

That’s certainly true as it pertained to head coach Kirby Smart. When asked, Smart’s nose turned up as if he caught wind of a rotten egg.

“That wasn't our goal, our intention in coming over here. We came over here to beat Mississippi State, and we're going to go and try and beat Kentucky next week,” Smart said. “Those are things that come from it, and we acknowledge that—it's one step at a time. You can't get ahead of yourself in this league.”

The Bulldogs will play LSU on Dec. 3 in Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the conference crown. The Tigers wrapped up the West title with Saturday’s 13-10 win at Arkansas.

“We talked about it a little bit, but we’re always on to the next game,” left tackle Broderick Jones said. “We’re not going to look too far ahead.”

Javon Bullard went out with an apparent knee injury in the third quarter. Although he returned briefly, Smart was not quite sure of the extent.

“He said his knee hurt on the tackle, then he came in and played after that,” Smart said. “But then, toward the end, he told Will (Muschamp) he couldn’t go. So, I don’t know if it was the knee or if it was something else.”

… Linebacker Robert Beal (stinger) returned to action.

Others who returned were offensive guard Xavier Truss, who was back in action and started after missing last week’s game with an injured toe.

Georgia seemed be in complete control at 17-6 with the ball and 51 seconds left until half.

But instead of running out the clock, the Bulldogs tried for more points, despite knowing they’d be getting the kick to start the third quarter.

Wrong decision.

After a quick three and out, Georgia punted with 21 seconds left, only to have Zavion Thomas take the kick and bring it back 63 yards for a score.

“Bad. Bad. It's as bad as it's been. We discussed it before we went out there: we were going to throw a screen on first down, which is a chance to get it going. You know, you hit Ladd (McConkey) right there, you get it going,” Smart said. “The clock's running, and the decision there once we hit Ladd, we thought, 'OK, we're going to go two-minute and try to get it going.' Then he threw it incomplete. And then the decision was to run the ball. We called a run, but it has an option of throwing it. And that goes back to, you know, maybe us reining it in some, not putting so much on Stetson. It was a quarterback with the option to throw it.”

The return marked the first such return since Ace Sanders brought a punt back against Georgia in 2012.

A two-point attempt failed and kept Georgia’s lead at four.

“Once we threw it, now we've got problems. We've got to punt. They only had one timeout, so we had three timeouts. Usually, you want to play that aggressive and use that, and it backfired on us. We also protected on the punt, and they rush it, and we didn't have but one gunner in,” Smart said. “So, once they got out, we didn't have enough speed on the field to get him down. It was a very, very poor job of managing the before-the-half situation. It was as bad as I've ever been a part of."

…Jalon Walker warmed up and played with the outside linebackers, with Nolan Smith out for the year and Darris Smith still out injured.

…Brock Bowers’ touchdown catch in the first quarter was his fourth scoring catch of the season, tops on the team. It was his seventh overall.

…Bennett’s 4-yard touchdown run was his seventh of the year.

Defense Delivers Again: Georgia came in ranked second nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 10.8 points a game, while MSU came in scoring 32.6 ppg. MSU finished with only 19 points on 310 yards of total offense on 67 plays. MSU had a 62-yard punt return for a TD by Zavion Thomas with three seconds left in the first half to make it 17-12 after a two-point try failed.

… Junior Jalen Carter had a career-high seven tackles and notched a sack, his second of the season and 17th by the Bulldogs this year. “That dude is special. That one play he made, he beat the guard so fast, he was in the backfield so quick. Their splits are huge. I’d hate to be a guard on an island blocking him like that,” Smart said. “He split three yards out both ways, and it’s like you’ve got to block 88. Man, that’s some hard stuff. He’s healthy, he’s playing, he’s taking the burden off those other guys.”

... Georgia came in fourth nationally in 3rd down defense as opponents converted only 27 percent of the time. MSU went 3-14 on 3rd downs, plus 0-3 on 4th downs. On the first 4th down, Smael Mondon (career-high 8 tackles) got a pass breakup at the line of scrimmage on a 4th-and-1 at the UGA 48.

… Sophomore Kamari Lassiter made a tackle for no gain on a 4th-and-1 at the UGA 8 with 9:54 left and Georgia leading 38-19. “That was a great call by Schu (Glenn Schumann). I mean that was a great call. He threw that to be a man beater. We weren’t in man,” Smart said. “It was one hell of a disguise and plan to do that. On fourth and one or whatever it was, nobody plays the defense we played. We played to try to cat and mouse game. It worked out.”

… The Bulldogs have not allowed a touchdown in the first quarter this year (just three field goals) and led tonight 7-0 after the first. In the first, MSU had 30 yards of offense on 14 plays with one first down. Georgia has posted 20 scoreless quarters this season.

… Georgia came in averaging 40.1 ppg and 514.2 yards of offense and tallied 45 points and 468 yards tonight.

*On its opening drive, Georgia went 73 yards on nine plays capped by a two-yard scoring strike to Bowers for a 7-0 lead.

… On its second scoring drive, Georgia converted a 4th-and-1 at the 16 to improve to 9-for-10 on 4th downs this year. It led to a field goal.

… After MSU scored to make it 10-3 in the 2nd quarter, Georgia answered with a touchdown drive, going 75 yards in eight plays in 2:32.

… Bennett went 25-for-37, 289 yards, with 3 TDs passing, 1 touchdown rushing, and 2 interceptions. He had his seventh rushing touchdown (11th of career), too. He now has 53 career touchdown passes, good for fifth in school history. He led the offense to 28 points in the second half.

… Georgia went 5-for-5 in the Red Zone with four touchdowns and one field goal. Coming in tonight, the Bulldogs led the nation in Red Zone offense, scoring 98 percent and now for the year are 55-for-56 (39 TDs and 16 FGs).

… MSU went 3-for-4 in the Red Zone (2 FGs, 1 touchdown, 1 downs). Coming in tonight, Georgia was ranked 3rd nationally in Red Zone Defense, limiting opponents to scoring just 65 percent (11-of-17) of the time.

… Senior PK Jack Podlesny tallied nine points, going 1-for-1 in FG (28-yarder) and 6-for-6 in PATs. Podlesny is 17-for-19 in field goals this year, including 8-for-8 from the 20-29-yard range.

… In first half, the Bulldogs had one interception, as Stetson Bennett was hit as he released the ball. It led to a three-and-out/punt. In the 3rd quarter, Bennett was picked off at the line of scrimmage at the UGA 22. It led to a TD. Opponents have scored 36 points off 13 Bulldog miscues.

… Georgia (10-0, 7-0 SEC) plays at Kentucky on Nov. 19 at 3:30 pm ET (CBS). The No. 24 Wildcats (6-4, 3-4 SEC) were upset by Vanderbilt 24-21 earlier today in Lexington.

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